Tim Wykle

Survivor

Two months prior to our experience with sepsis, we had been through a battle of prostate cancer surgery with removal of the prostate and lymph nodes. We were scheduled to come back for an eight-week check-up, feeling good, and looking for good news and great outcomes.

At age 52, my husband was feeling good, having his good appetite and funny jokes. He awoke early one morning with severe cold chills, and then was burning up. We assumed he had a flu bug, so he took Tylenol. After one day, nothing seemed to improve, vomiting started, and he had a 104 degree fever.

I took him to our local hospital and a couple hours later he was transferred to the Ohio State University Hospital ICU. We were told he was in septic shock with infection through his body. He was given a lot of medications, strong pain meds, dialysis, and a ventilator. It hit whole body with a force and he fought it off somehow with the grace of God and all the knowledge of every one of his doctors. His very high heart rate and low blood pressure were stabilized when the infection was drained and exploratory surgery was performed in the hospital room in the early morning hours. A wound vac was put in his stomach to clean his blood. My husband did pull through this. It has been three weeks, with VERY, VERY many ups and downs.

Unfortunately, there are some down side effects of all the medications. It draws oxygen out of his feet and hands. Pressors, they call them. It has left his right hand and finger tips, and both his feet and toes the same way. The very ends of each start to flatten and dry up and for a while all four blistered badly. My husband will go through four to six weeks of waiting to see what dies off and has to be amputated. He has good pulses in his feet and ankles. We are expecting that he will lose his right hand, the tips of his left fingers and part of his feet, but with rehab, a great family, and knowing it waiting game to let the body heal as much as possible on its own, you can survive Sepsis, live your life and appreciate all the support given. (Sepsis and Amputations)

 

Update August 24, 2022.

In 2011 I shared my husband’s story for a wonderful doctor in OSU Medical Center in Columbus, Ohio. My husband Tim lost most of his limbs from sepsis. I was in the ICU when they would try 1 more time to shock him and if that didn’t work, he would be gone. My husband survived and has lived with nerve pain and concentration problems for years. He tried so many different ways to feel better. He had a construction company and built and worked on many homes in our town. 4 years ago I found him in our living room in his chair and had a massive stroke. It took all his thinking, walking and talking from him and he has been in a nursing home since then. He gets very confused, has only a daily time line. He counts things out a lot, 1,2, 3,4. all the time. His speech has improved and he can usually get through to me what he wants. He doesn’t read too much but he knows me and his children and grandchildren and family. I feel the septic shock played a big part of where he is now. (Sepsis and Septic Shock) We still have him, but from a very hard worker to his new life, he puts puzzles together all day long and either the residents and staff think he was a veteran. When I say “sepsis” they don’t know a lot about it, but they do when they walk away. God Bless you all.

Source: by Debbie Wykle (Tim's wife)

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